kathy

I’ve been wanting to write a blog about my adventures, more on the misadventures actually, here in New Zealand. I just couldn’t squeeze in a little time in my seemingly over hectic schedule here J but anyways, i finally got this time to do it. So here goes.

The Airport – everything went along fine, from NAIA to Sydney, Australia. There were no horrible delays (just a few minutes because there’s this guy who slept very soundly and got late on boarding the place), the food was okay, and i was even able to watch Catherine Zeta-Jones’ Houdini movie (she’s really stunning!). but not until we finally arrived in Christchurch, NZ airport… the torturous interrogation and confusion was very stressful. And going out of the seemingly deserted airport, not knowing where my friends are was even more horrible!

But that is all in the past now. Good intentions, clear conscience, a lot of prayers, calmness and consistency did all the trick J

The Bus – we always had to walk here in Christchurch. Although my friend jacky has a car, of course she would like to save up on gas, so we always end up walking to and from the city centre. And here’s the deal, our flat is like 5 blocks away from the city centre. Sounds near huh? But no, 1 block here is like 3 to 4 blocks there in Lucena! So we got a lot of walking exercise here, that’s for sure J

Aside from walking, the other convenient way for us to travel is by bus. There’s this cool Bus Exchange in the heart of the city centre where all the buses drive through to drop off and pick up passengers. Yeah, it’s like a bus terminal, but it looks more like the waiting area of an airport with all the monitors around giving you the ETA (estimated time of arrival) of the buses, maps, escalators, ATMs, and paging system.

Anyways, there’s this one day when i really felt very tired because of my 1^st 6 hours of training at a convenience store where i had to be standing up all the time (even during breaks because there’s nowhere to sit on inside and outside of the Victoria branch!) stacking items on the shelves, frying chips, cleaning around, and serving at the till – cash register as we would call it there in pinas. And so my feet were really sore that i wouldn’t have the energy anymore to walk back home, i decided to take the bus. Besides, i had to meet up with jacky at the Eastgate Mall because i had to buy a pair of pants and black shoes which were required at work, so i really had to take the bus.

I checked for the bus number that will pass by the Eastgate Mall and proceeded to the corresponding platform to wait for the bus. I waited… and waited… and waited… until i heard the bus number being spoken at the paging system. I hurriedly run to the door leading to the bus and got on to the front seat near the driver. I also make sure i have this seat on the bus so i can always tell the driver where i am headed to and ask him to just drop me off there, especially when i am new to a place. Yet i forgot to tell the driver this, feeling confident that i was on the right bus number.

Yeah, i was on the right bus number… but the bus was still going the opposite direction of my destination! “Don’t panic,” i told myself calmly because i know that the bus will still go back to the Bus Exchange no matter what happens. It just cannot not go back there. So  i am safe and i can always just drop off the Bus Exchange if the bus won’t go to my destination. And for my peace of mind, i politely asked the driver if it’s going back to the Bus Exchange and told him i was supposed to go to Eastgate Mall. The bus driver was such an angel and told me that the bus will be going to my destination.

So there, i was safely dropped off the mall… after an hour and a half of going around my unchartered streets of Christchurch and having jacky wait for quite a long time. But at least i was able to see the other parts of the city. I now know where the University of Canterbury is, and the Riccarton Mall too. And my friend had forgiven me for the long wait J

The Dog Park – where else in the world can we find such a vast place for dogs to run around and have some training? My friends and i just couldn’t believe it! Our new friend uly (short for ulysis) drove us away from the city centre one sat afternoon, which by the way has almost become a habit because he feels lonely while jacky, jazzie and i want to tour around Christchurch, bringing us to this place that surprised us all. We all thought we’re just going to another park, but as we got inside the place, there were just a few tables and benches for picnic and all the rest was a place for the dogs delight. Plus, we were the only group there who had no dog!

Still, we ate our packed snack, laughed at the place and laughed at ourselves for not getting into a human park instead. J

Night ‘n Day – it is indeed a night and day job at that convenience store because i had to go there before 10 in the evening and leave the store at 6 in the morning. What could be wrong with that? I had worked in call centers before and already experienced graveyard shifts, but it was all just talking to bank clients over the phone, sitting on my own desk in the office, chatting with my office friends who also chose the same shift, eating lots of food brought by everyone, and even watching DVDs when there’s no more phone calls. This time it’s different.

I already enumerated above the things to do inside the store. But add to that, you have drunk customers coming in and out of the store! Yes, there’s a security person but he’s only there from 11 PM till 4 AM. And soon as he got off from his post, all the more drunkards came inside the store because the clubs around the block close down at 4 in the morning. What’s worse, there’s only 2 staff in the store; me and a Chinese guy who’s tall but geeky and pale looking. And the worst thing is, those freaking drunkards bully the poor guy.

Good thing they never bullied me. That could’ve made me even more panicky there. I already didn’t know what to do whenever i hear the loud voices, some were even shouting, of those people coming out of the clubs who might be getting inside the store.

I remember there’s this drunken Kiwi girl who teased and made fun of my co-staff when she asked for the price of the nachos, if she could get it for a lower price when she shows him her boobs. She ordered for the nachos anyways and when i served her that, she said “Thanks, that’s sweet.” And there was this young Latino guy, who’s also drunk and also ordered for nachos, who was polite when he asked for extra cheese. There was also this Maori guy who even gave me a tip! With his slurred speech (yes, because he’s drunk) he said that i can keep the change. It was only 40 cents, but still that’s a sweet thought.

Although there were those few times i felt lucky to have experienced such diversity in culture with those drunken customers of Night ‘n Day, my fear of having myself exposed to more unsafe situations weighed heavier that i finally decided to quit the job that i had merely started. It is way better for me to protect myself from the dangers of that inconvenient store J

That’s just the first part. I’ve been here in New Zealand for 6 six weeks, and there are more stories to tell. I only hope those will all be positive ones. But what the heck! Life will be such a bore without these (mis)adventures, ayt? J